REVIEW: Silverstein – “Short Songs”

For the past three years it feels as if Silverstein have still been wrapped up in the quit-playing-games-with-my-heart pop punk charade that still wanders about, mourning like a kid in desperate need of a new Bleed The Dream record. The switch from Victory to Hopeless wasn’t easy, but the new clothes fit and Short Songs establish a firm grip on a new sound that feels natural, not forced. Even if the 19 minute take is a rare experience, the first side still holds this never-ending amount of character propelled by rampant drums, renovated punk swings and misunderstood desperation that creeps back and forth across your veins, oddly similar to the resurfacing of 90s’ screamo but with more vocal bark. The urgency in “SOS”, the power slide pop of “Brookfield”, the savage side to “Truth & Temptation”; Silverstein are flexing a serious broad attitude all the while instilling a familiar sound that hangs on to Shane Told’s lyrical despondency. As Short Songs unfolds, is a perfect set-up to the album’s b-side. Binding together covers of influences is more of an EP standard, but thanks to an opening two minutes full of a “guess who’s voice that is” Dead Kennedys’ cover and a Gob cut about “back to back conflict”, it’s an ingenious addition that terrorizes (“Destination: Blood!”), gets nostalgic (“Coffee Mug”, “Quit Your Job”) and makes youth crew relevant again (“Good Intentions”). It’s no persistent attack on your conscious, but it’s no filler either, with every blood and sweat stained laceration and phonic blow to the head tracing a compilation with nothing but raw feelings.